The best summer desserts are cool and refreshing, sweet and fruity, good old-fashioned fun or all of the above. The five recipes featured here fit into one or more of those categories and are guaranteed to get summer off to a sweet start.
To take a simple scoop or sundae up a few notches, chef Olivier Desaintmartin stuffs the ice cream into baked choux pastry for a simple but impressive profiterole. The crowning touch is a housemade chocolate sauce.
Photo courtesy of Washington Red Raspberry Commission
Raspberry Semifreddo
Semifreddo, the Italian name for frozen mousse, is similar to ice cream but doesn’t require a special machine to churn it. Just pop it into the freezer and wait for it to harden. The sweet-tart flavor of red raspberries complements the dessert’s creamy richness.
Chef Juliet Greene makes the classic s'mores recipe a little more sophisticated with housemade walnut butter, dark chocolate and graham cracker crumble. And you don’t need a campfire to make these!
Photo courtesy of The Perfect Puree of Napa Valley
Peach Ginger Cream Cheese Pastry Cups
Pastry chef Toni Roberts likes to prepare these for summer brunches at the Ritz Carlton Chicago, but the mini tarts also make a sweet ending to dinner, topped with a scoop of ice cream. The housemade peach-ginger jam that tops the cups can double as a bread spread or condiment for grilled meats.
Strawberry shortcake is the quintessential summer dessert with its contrasting layers of a tender, buttery base topped with ripe, juicy berries and billows of whipped cream. For the base of this dessert, chef Kathy Casey bakes up a honey-lemon scone, which can double as a breakfast treat when served as is.
The final weeks of this school year have been turbulent at dozens of college campuses across the country, driven by differing views of the Israel-Hamas war.
From day-to-day dining to Diwali, Chef Rajeev Patgaonkar, CEC, AAC, HGT, has forged a culinary path that’s allowed a generation at Michigan State University to experience the truly fascinating flavors of Indian cuisine and given Indian students and faculty at taste of home.